The Dandelion

I noticed something this morning on the first daily walk after dining on my oatmeal and coffee. The sun wasn't even above the horizon though the Eastern skies were getting brighter. The street lamps were still on and that gave me enough light to see by. And to see what caught my eye and started me to thinking. It was about 5:30am.

What I saw was a little white puffball on a long stem from a plant next to the sidewalk. A dandelion. The temperature was about 43 degrees F. Any other flowering plant was still snugly closed against the cold. Herein, I believe, is a lesson.

For the lowly dandelion life is all about taking advantage of opportunities. It doesn't matter what the heck is going on around it, the plant just grows and grows and grows. The cold had no effect on it. As a matter of fact the lawnmower has no effect on either, just take a look at my yard! The dandelion will come back at you almost overnight.

After mowing the lawn I can set my watch to when the little yellow flowers will appear. The next day the yard is a sea of yellow. That night the flowers transform themselves into white seed balls, each seed equipped with a wind sail. Just a tiny whiff of a breeze will send the seeds over vast areas. And before long the process starts again. Promulgating the species at a tremendous rate. Not reinventing or evolutionizing, just taking advantage of its own particular set of life abilities.

And in that is the lesson. No matter what the setback or failure may be, one must bounce back. One must do this: FIDO (forget it, drive on!). So what if during some holiday you gain a few pounds. So what if you binged on a two pound cheeseburger with fries and a super sized coke. So what. Enjoy the moment and then get back on it. That's what I do. That's what the dandelion does!

For more information about the dandelion and its usefulness go here http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn7469.html